St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-01-15
STRANGE STORIES.
0oOo Remarkable Tales Which Travelefs
Have Brought Back with Them.

4
0sos Remarkable ralss which Traveller
Have Brought Back with Them.
Captain Lancaster many years age
told of wonderful plant he found Oh
the sea sands OF an island in the Eas,
Indies. He said he found the shore
covered with small twigs growing ny
like young trees. When he tried t.
pull them up he was astonished to find
that they shrank down to the ground,
and even sank out Of sight unless ne
held on very hard. In the course Of
time Mr.. Darwin examined the wonder
full products Of nsture which Captain
Lancaster had discovered. He found
that the supposed plant did not belong
to the vegetable kingdom, but was q
species OF the animals known as 70
ophytes or sea-pens. '.At low water.
he wrote, ..hundreds of zoOphytes
might be seen ejecting like stubble.
When touched or pulled they suddenly
drew themselves in with force. SO -
nearly or quite to disappear"
Besides the travellers who wilfully or
ignorantIy distort facts there are not u
few who could journey around the world
without being able to tell much worth
hearing Of their travels. Awhile ago u
man who had travelled . good deal in
the western Pacific was asked 10 de-
scribe the Solomon Islands. All he
could say was that the water there was
very blue; that the bathing was excel
lent, and that he saw many lovely sites
for villa residences. 1t was learned
that he had long been . real estate
agent in Melbourne.
Mr.. Romily says that a few years
ago traveller who was addressing an
audience in England. which included
many scientific men. sOlemnly assured
them that the natives of New Britain
mended broken legs by inserting
piece of tortoise shell into the bone.
The shell was neatly fitted into
groove that was cut in the bone, and
the ends of the broken bone were in
this manner kept together. HIS hear
ers never thought Of questioning his
veracity. when he surprised them fur
Their by asserting that the science of
dentistry was far advanced in New
Britain. He said the natives made
beautiful teeth of mOther-of-pearl,
which they attached to the jaw by fine
threads of sinnet. Later visitors to
New Britain have failed to find any
evidence Of those accomplishments.
One of the funniest stories that even
gained wide circulation was that about
the bone eating trees Of the Louisade
The story ran that dur
81 ~ -
trees bent to the ground. and that the
leaves, like those OF the fy-catching
plants. closed about all bits of bone
or flesh that they happened to touch.
Before morning all traces OF the bones
and meat had disappeared. the trees
having completely assimilated them. 4
The natives worshiped them IS deitics
and placed offerings Of bones and flesh
near them to appease their appetites.
This story was doubtless derived from
The fact that many of the Pacific ISL
lnders place thousands of bones in the
Of trees. and in the process OF
growth MANY Of these become imbedded
n the wood, like the horseshoe which
has so long been on exhibition in s
Nassau street window.
The imaginative element is largely
lev cloped in most savages. and they
ire always happy to entertain their
white visitors with wonderful stories.
some of which are afterwArd repeated
N civilized lands ~ solemn facts.
There are many sailors who believe to
his dav that there is . tribe in central
New Grinea which is adorned with
;ails. Some OF the natives of the
southwest coast are willing to swear
BY all their gods that they have seen
men from the interior. of whose an
atomy tails are . natural and highly
,rname entail feature. The sailors think
hey ought to know. Jack Tar has
Ilso circulated that other interesting
varn from New Guinea to the effect
hat some of the natives bore holes
through their left hands to fire arrows
through them.
Newspaper editors, as we'll As states
men. sometimes make cnrious blund-
iers on account of their limited &C.
luaintance with out-of-the-way parts
il the world. Awhile ago some En-
ulishmen were killed in one OF the New
islands. An Australian news
paper. in = burst Of indignation, ad.
vised that gunboat lying in the har-
Dor be sent to draw 4 Gordon around
the island. drive all the natives into
The interior. and there exterminato
hem. The gunboat force available for
his purpose was sixty men. The island
happens to be forty miles long and ten
niles wide. A mountain range about
our thousand feet high runs through il
md it has fighting force of at least
me thousand men, II the sixty Aus.
ralians had tried to form the proposed
,ordon they would probably have made
! bad me Is of it.-N. 7. Sun.